Persona 3 : the 2nd butterfly
by codename710
Summary: A false hope, a forgotten past, a destined life. Her arrival to port island will change everything about him. Chapter 4 : Shia reminded Akihiko of Minato. Pairing: MC X FeMC
1. The voice someone calls

**Author's note: **Hello again guys. Thank you for those who read my previous one-shot fanfic and enjoyed it. I'm currently writing another story about Minato and the female MC. This time, it will be a long fanfic and here are the first chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it and if you don't mind, don't forget to R and R! thanks

**Disclaimer:** I do not own persona at all!

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"_Haven't I told you? I'm incomplete. The other part of me is with somebody else" - Pharos_

**Chapter 1 – The voice someone call**

**7/7 – Dark hour **

It was the 4th full moon operation, and once again the S.E.E.S team managed to wipe-out the full-moon shadows even though none of them expect 'the lovers' arcana to also make its appearance there immediately after ' the hierophant' was defeated. It had successfully left an unforgettable memory for all the S.E.E.S members, especially for Minato and Yukari.

The incident was, indeed, really embarrassing for him. However, it was none of Minato's concern now. What matter the most now was his best friend, Junpei.

Ever since they eradicate 'the lovers', he started to act strangely. Minato thought as hard as he could to come up with a good and sound reason to explain what made him to be in such a state. However, fatigue started to take the better of him and somehow the thought of laying his head on the pillow seemed to be really intriguing. The blue – haired boy finally decided to give up and sleep.

"Hello there," Pharos said as he suddenly made his appearance and disturbed Minato's peaceful slumber.

Annoyed, Minato woke up with a loud groan.

" What?" His word was full of sentiment. He really hates it when somebody woke him up from his sleep.

" I just wanted to congratulate you for surviving another ordeal." He said happily, ignoring Minato's feeling. The little boy then started to play with Minato's phone.

" Whatever... and put my phone down" Pharos' compliment did not seem to make him feel better, instead, he become more enraged looking at his phone being exploited and checked by Pharos.

Again, Pharos seemed to pay no attention towards Minato's words. However, the moment he looked at the mad teenager's face which can be read as: _Now, or you won't be able to see tomorrow, _he immediately put it down.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you angry. It's just, I'm really happy today." He said with a small giggle.

And why was it?" as he asked that question , Minato was hoping that after Pharos answered it, he would go away.

"My other half is coming." He said with a huge grin attached on his face. "Can't you hear it? It is calling out for me. _Soon_, we can have more fun together"

Right after he said it and after the death social link rose to level 5, he faded away with a very enthusiastic yet devilish smile, leaving Minato alone again in his room, with a new big question mark engraved inside his mind,

"_What does he mean by that?"_

And at that moment, he regretted his wish.


	2. The meeting

_**Author's note: **_Here are the 2nd chapter! Thank you for those who had willing to read the 1st chapter and posted their review! I really appreciate it. This chapter is far longer than the previous one. I'm not use in doing conversation. Also, sorry if it's a bit boring. But I hope you enjoy this! Sorry if this sounds a bit rushing. Review for improvement is much appreciated!

* * *

"_That name sounds distance, yet so familiar." - Minato_

**Chapter 2 – the meeting**

After Pharos's final sentence, Minato decided to try recalling what the young boy had told him about his other half. He did have some vague memories about Pharos talking about himself, saying that his body was once divided and separated. However, the boy in the striped-shirt remembered neither the reason nor the one that had done that to him, probably because he experienced memories lost during the separation process. The problem for Minato now was: When did he share it to him? Was it during the 2nd full moon? Or was it during the 3rd? He could not remember the detail as he was always sleepy and exhausted whenever Pharos came and talked to him. He also thought Pharos was only joking around. So, he never bothered to take note about it. He pretended to belief it so Pharos will be happy.

However, just yesterday, he started to feel that Pharos was really saying the truth. Since he entered S.E.E.S, a lot of strange thing had happened: the existence of hidden hour, school that can turn into a colossal and towering structure, another realm between dream and reality, the existence of shadows, and the reflection of himself called persona that can be used to fight against the shadow by summoning it through shooting his head with a gun-like-instrument called evoker. So, it should not be impossible for a person to be separated into several segments. Especially if the person can appear out of nowhere and disappear as he liked.

The other reason was because of his last smile. It was clear that he was giving a warning to the wild-card bearer.

"_Be careful," _that was what written on Pharos's face right before he disappear from Minato's sight.

Throughout the rest of the night, Minato tried to recollect the fragment of his memory again to find out more about Pharos's other half that Pharos had shared to him. However, it was no use. Thus, he decided to go back to sleep. To his surprise, it was already 4 in the morning. It had been 4 hours since the dark hour ended! Without any further delay, he immediately hit the pillow.

Deep inside his mind, he regretted he stayed up all night to achieve nothing but confusion and soon, unknown to him yet, he'd regret it even more.

* * *

**7/8 – Morning**

"Oh, s***" was the first two words that come out from his mouth the following morning. When he woke up and checked the phone, it already showed 9 o'clock, which could only mean one thing: he was late for school.

Immediately, Minato jumped out of his bed and changed to his summer uniform. He took his toothbrush and while brushing his teeth, he took his bag. Choosing his mp3 player over his messy hair, he quickly got out of his room and headed out of the dorm.

He was really glad that the monorail was just about to depart when he reached the station. As expected, the monorail was almost empty. The majority of the monorail users were actually students of Gekkoukan high. Furthermore, as he saw the school from one of the monorail window, he could see from far that the gate was closed. The school must have started.

So, along the way to the station, he tried to come up with a good reason to tell his teacher why he was late. However, as genius as he may be (he ranked first for the previous test); he was never a good liar. In fact, as far as he could remember and belief (he started to doubt his memories since last night), he never lied before. Finally, after thinking for sometimes, he sighed in defeat and decided to tell his teacher the truth as he thought the fake reason that he made will only involve him with more problems. He wished Junpei was accompanying him right now as he was pretty sure that he could come up with a thousand different excuses which was absurd yet was accepted by the teacher.

Mentioning his best friend's name reminded him of the problem he was attempting to solve during the dark hour. However, as he began to think about it again, the announcement from the monorail which informed the passengers that they will soon arrived at the destination brought him back to reality and ended his train of thought. As soon as the door opened, he got off the train and dashed as fast as he could to the school.

As he was getting closer to Gekkokuan high, he noticed something was different. The school was unusually quiet. It should be recess by now and yet he could not hear a single conversation from there. He remembered how the teacher used to warn them to keep their noise level down as they received a lot of complaints from houses around the school that the school was too noisy. Was his teacher wrong? Does something happen to the school?

Again, Minato was too busy with his own thought that when he was about to turn at the final corner before the school gate, he failed to notice that somebody else from the opposite direction was also about to turn

_**THUD!**_

Their heads hit each other and both of them fell to the ground. Minato rubbed his head to ease the pain. As he opened his eyes carefully, even though the image was still blurry, he quickly realized he hit someone and immediately apologized to the person.

"Sorry, that's my fau-"His words was halted at the sight before him. As his view grew better, he realized the person that he crashed was a girl. She had a brunette hair that was tied into a stylish ponytail and she was wearing gekkoukan high summer uniform. She also had the same headphone that he used, albeit in red colour. However, what made him surprised was not the fact that she was also late or the fact that they use the same headphone. For him, her face was strikingly cute; almost as cute as Yukari. No, maybe even better than that. But, why he never seen her before? Is she a transfer student?

"Hello~ Are you okay? Knock -knock, anybody inside there? "The girl's voice and hand motion snapped him out of his thought. He abruptly responded her, face painted in red," Ah! Y..yeah! I'm okay. Don't worry about me! I'm fine yes, yes.. and err.. How about you? Are you hurt?"

" Hahaha, don't worry too much, I'm also fine. And.. Sorry about the earlier" She laughed as she thought his respond was hilarious. Minato also smiled a bit; not really much to his respond, but more to her. Her laugh only made her look even cuter, and he liked it.

"By the way, may I ask you something?" The girl tone suddenly turned serious and she looked a bit worried.

"Yes, what is it?" Minato stood up and then helped her to stand as he answered her question. He managed to compose himself again.

"Is it considered weird here to wear school uniform during holiday?"

"Ah… Not reall.. wait, what? Holiday? I thought today is a normal school day." Minato was quite surprised with her statement. As far as he knew, today was a normal school day. Was he forgetting something? He had checked his phone and he did not see any announcement. He always put a reminder if tomorrow was holiday.

"I don't think so, I checked the schedule before I came here and it said today was a day-off since it is teacher training day. So, I decided to check the school since I will be studying here starting tomorrow. At my previous school, it is compulsory to wear school uniform whenever we want to go to school. I thought this school is also applying the same thing. However, when I walked here, everybody was staring at me like I am a weirdo. So…" The brunette continued her talk without realizing that Minato was not listening.

Apparently, Minato only heard her until the part where she mentioned about teacher's training day. That phrase sparked off some memories. He remembered Ms Toriumi mentioned it during yesterday's last period . Furthermore, he was pretty sure that he was not sleeping and that he noted it down on his phone and put it on today's notification. He immediately checked his cellphone again. He realized that the notification was put on 7/8 whereas on his phone, the date today was 7/9.

" umm.. Hello? Are you listening to me?" The girl asked Minato as she realized he was busy with himself again.

"What is today's date?" Minato asked the girl, ignoring the question that she asked.

" 7/8, why do you ask? " The girl answered him in confusion.

His phone's date was wrong. Somebody must had changed it, But who?

_Pharos…_

_._ That name immediately appeared in his mind. Minato remembered yesterday Pharos was playing with his phone. He must have changed the date during that time.

" Hey, I'm asking here~" The girl seemed irritated at Minato's habit of lost in his own thought.

"It's nothing. And about your question, the answer is no. I do see some students wear their uniform to go to school in the weekend to take their thing or do some group projects. I also wear school uniform, but no people stare at me like the one you just experience. Maybe it's just because you are new to this town and none of them have seen you before."

Minato tried to cheer her up and tried to assure her it's just her imagination.

"Hopefully so.." Even though it's not much, Minato could see a relief expression from her face, and that was good enough.

"By the way, the school gate is closed so you cannot go in, so what do you want to do now?"

" Hmm… I'm thinking of exploring this town. I actually originated from here. But, it has been years since I moved from this town. So, I was surprised to see that the town has changed a lot. I'm afraid I will get lost if I explore it on my own." The girl's face darken again as she was buried in confusion. "Oh yeah! Why don't you come with me? Let's explore the town together! I belief it could be fun! Oh yes, but you might already have another appointment. That's why you come to school right? "The brunette sighed again, the excitement on her face was quickly replaced again by an upset and confused expression.

"I don't mind actually. I come here because of some misunderstanding" He said to her with a warm smile. It was actually not a bad idea for Minato, especially to hang out with an adorable girl like her. Also, He need some refreshment after all the trouble he went through today and yesterday, so why not?

In an instant her face's expression brightened and was filled with joy. "Really? You mean it? Then what are you waiting for? Let's go!" The brunette immediately gripped Minato's hand enthusiastically and pulled him with her.

" H..hey, Relax, You don't have to pull me." Minato tried to stop her from pulling him. His hand was in pain. Surprisingly, she had a strong grip for a girl.

" Oh sorry! I'm getting too excited! My bad! "The girl quickly released his hand and bowed down and smiled apologetically.

"Ugh… It's okay. "He grunted a bit as the pain had not fully subsided."…By the way, What's your name?"

" Oh, I almost forgot! Sorry I did not introduce myself earlier. My name is Shia Hamuko. Just call me Shia!"

"Minato Arisato, it's nice to meet you. Now, shall we, Shia-chan? " Minato introduced himself monotonously and immediately, with hands inside his pocket, walked to the direction of monorail station.

Shia followed him from behind, again, confused with the boy's rushing action. He wanted to takes things easy at first. But right after she introduced herself, he acted oppositely.

Unknown to her, Minato was again, busy with his thought right after hearing her name and he did not want her to notice it. She seemed to don't like him thinking to himself.

Her name, to him, sounded alien. However, he had this strange feeling that the name was really close with him. Did he meet her somewhere else before?


	3. Nostalgia

_**Author's note: **__3__rd__ chapter. Many-many thanks for Elmion who had been willing to check my fanfiction and giving a great review amid the test that he is currently going through. Good luck for your test senpai! Might scrap this and edit it again. _

_**Disclaimer: **__I wish I could own persona and Atlus_

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"_Memories never disappear. It's only buried inside our heart, waiting for us to find it again."_

**Chapter 3 – Nostalgia**

**7/8- Afternoon – Iwatodai Strip Mall**

Minato started off with the Strip mall, the closest place from school. Shia did not have any single clue about this place. So it must had been built after she left the town. He introduced her to the various restaurant that they have there; Wild Duck burger, Wakatsu Beef restaurant and Hagakure ramen. It was _thank_ to Elizabeth's request to see the outside world that he was able to know all the culinary around this district. He could still remember how his stomach wanted to explode after eating many portions of each of the restaurant's speciality. He wondered how a slim girl like Elizabeth could have a bottomless appetite.

_Grumble…_

Apparently, it was a false decision to remember that event as nausea started building up and his face turned pale.

He wanted to vomit.

He quickly dashed out to the nearest toilet, leaving Shia behind.

* * *

Minutes later, upon his return, Shia asked him _bemused_, "What happened?"

"Nothing, just reminded of a bad experience. Shall we continue?" Minato replied; his face had regained its colour though his breath was still heavy from vomiting and running. Nausea still not completely disappeared.

"Are you sure?" The girl frowned, still doubting the boy's condition.

"…Should I say no?" was his respond.

"Not if you're sure you won't faint or vomit along the way."

"…I won't"

"Then promise me you'll buy something for me if you do so, alright?" She smiled teasingly as she made the deal.

" ...Alright, I'll rest for a while."

Somehow, it seemed impossible for Minato to argue with the red – haired girl. But she seemed worried about his well-being, and he took it as a good sign that she took a liking of him. So they decided to look for a sit. Minato brought her to the famous Octopia. He was pretty sure there was a bench there.

As they sat, the wonderful smell of the takoyaki filled the air and made Shia's hungry. However, she seemed hesitant to buy. Minato noticed that and bought one for her.

"Minato-kun, what is this for?" Shia questioned him.

"You are hungry, right? My treat,"

"Wow.. Thank you very much Minato-kun. Itadakimasu~! "She said as she started to dig in the Takoyaki happily. "It tastes exactly the same like the one I had when I was little! I was afraid before that the taste will be different since many years have passed."

"So, you have eaten that before?"

" I've told you before, haven't I? I used to live here. Even at that time, this shop has existed. My father used to buy me this every time he went back from work… "The girl's expression became dark upon muttering her last sentence, eyes casted at the half-empty takoyaki box.

"…Something wrong?" Minato asked her candidly as soon as he noticed the girl's sudden mood swing.

"….Huh? Oh, it's nothing. I'm just afraid that If I eat too much of this I'll become fatter…. Ummm..so. Minato-kun, do you mind if…"

Minato sighed, a little unsatisfied with the response that she gave .He knew she was hiding something, but he decided to let it go. Probably the thing had no connection with him. Sometimes it better not to interfere with others problem, especially if you were only her acquaintance. Come to think of it. He didn't eat breakfast this morning since he rushed to the school. "Alright, give me the rest."

"*giggle*, Thanks Minato-kun, I really owe you one."

"Just don't blame me if I vomit after this." He remarked as he began to munch the takoyaki.

After Minato finished chomping (which is unbelievably fast), they depart on to their next destination. They ride the monorail and stopped at Port Island Station.

**7/8 – Afternoon – Port Island Station**

Minato showed her the cinema. He told her that on this upcoming summer break, they will hold a movie marathon for one week.

Upon hearing that, Shia become so excited and planned to watch the whole movie marathon.

Upon hearing that, Minato only said," then you better start saving your money. "

Then, they stopped by the flower shop Florist. Shia really liked the flower display and gave Minato a hard time to take her to next place as she wanted to check the whole flowers in the shop. Finally, he managed to drag her from there after he was able to convince her that there were still a lot of interesting places waiting for her.

**7/8 – Afternoon – Naganaki Shrine**

As they approached the shrine, Shia started to look around.

"This place seemed familiar." She wondered whether she could recall the place correctly. Her eyes could not stop moving to identify the place as her curiosity kept on growing.

" ..We're heading to Naganaki Shrine now." He said plainly, answering her curiosity.

"Really? Then where's the stairs that lead to the shrine?"

"….There.." He pointed to the long stairs. Without any delay, Shia darted upstairs. "..She sure has a lot of energy." He sighed.

"This place is still the same like the last time I came!" Shia exclaimed with excitement and joyfulness as she arrived at the shrine," I really miss this place."

"When was your last visit here?" He asked her after he managed to catch up.

"I think when I was about 6 years old. Time sure pass by really fast, isn't it? "She remarked amazedly as she examined every tiny bit of the shrine. Nothing had changed. She then went to the playground "I used to play here every day at that age. I still remember how I tried to climb this jungle gym. It used to be very high. Now, it looked a lot smaller and shorter." She said, reminiscing the time when she was still a little girl.

Minato sat on one of the bench there, eyes fixed at the girl, smiling.

"Come to think of it, I remembered that I had a friend that always played with me here. He was my father's friend's son. He was quiet and often appeared to be daydreaming. I used to scold him because of it." She chuckled for a while before she continued," But other than that, he was a kind boy. I wondered where he was now, I belief he has become a great man. It's kinda sad though that I cannot remember his face and his name. "

As if she remembered something, she turned around to Minato's direction," Sorry, you don't need to hear it actually. It's just, it's been a very long time since I left this town. I've forgotten a lot of thing. When I came back, as if a switch is pressed, the past memories of this place quickly flooded my mind. "She paused for a while, eyes closed as she recalled her past, cherished memories." Sorry, shall we get moving then?"

"Mina – Kun~!" A little girl voice suddenly could be heard from the shrine entrance

Minato averted his eyes to see the Hanged-man social link waving at him and approaching him," Ah.. Hello Maiko - chan. Just come back from school?" He greeted her with his usual plain tone however one could sense a feeling of hospitality from it.

"Yeah! Mina-kun, let's play again today! School is really boring today!" She begged him enthusiastically. Face decorated with a very bright smile, full of hope.

Minato pat her head and ruffled her hair. He smiled weakly and said, "I'm really sorry Maiko-chan, but I'm afraid I can't accompany you today."

"Boo! Why? "The girl pouted. She was discontent with his reply.

"Well, you see Maiko-chan, I am currently with my friend who was still new here and she needs somebody to show her around the town. I cannot just leave her hereafter I said that I would help her," Minato said as he tried to calm her down. " It'd be so unkind of me."

"Hmmph…" was her respond as she turned away from Minato.

"Now – now, don't get angry like that. I promised tomorrow I'll come again and play with you. "

"….. You promise?"

"Of course, I'll accompany you the whole day until you're satisfied and I'll let you have as many takoyaki as you want. "

"Yey! Oh…" Her face turned cheerful for a while and immediately become sad again," But I cannot come tomorrow. I join a school club activity recently and the club's training day is every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Is it okay if we played on Saturday instead?"

"Okay, then, this Saturday." Minato smiled gladly as he managed to bring her mood back." Say, How about if I ask my friend over there to come and play with us? I belief we can have more fun. "

"No problem. The more the merrier! " She responded, getting more and more excited.

"Then you should introduce yourself to her," He said to her while pointing at Shia who was currently walking towards them.

" Hei Missy! My name is Maiko, nice to meet you! What's your name?" She said high-spiritedly.

Minato then approached Shia before she introduced herself to Maiko. He whispered, "Be easy on her, don't forget to apologize for today. She might look happy, but this girl was currently going through a hard time at her house. You don't want to make her feel sadder or frustrated."

She was quite surprised at Minato's concern towards the girl. She thought he was the kind of person that was ignorance of others problem.

"Sure" She whispered back to him before she spoke to Maiko ," It's nice to meet you Maiko-chan. My name is Shia. I'm really sorry that I make Minato-kun busy today. I promised I'll also come on Friday to play with you. So, is it alright with you? Will you forgive me for today?"

" Just don't forget to come or I won't forgive you! Oh yes! Buy me a drink for tomorrow! Compensation for today's playing time."

" Okay, what drink do you want?"

"I wanted something fizzy." The little girl's reply apparently only made Shia confused

"She means soft drink. Just buy a mad bull, it's her favourite" Minato quickly added in to clear her confusion.

" Oh, okay. But where could I find it? "Shia asked Minato. Before Minato could answer, Maiko suddenly cut-in.

"Okay then! I'll go home and quickly go to sleep so Saturday will come faster. Bye- bye! See you this Saturday! "Maiko waved her hands to both teenagers before she climbed down the stairs and disappear from their sight.

"She doesn't seem to be sad or frustrated to me." Shia asked Minato again as they waved back at the little girl.

"Well, apparently her parents are not in a really good term, most likely they will divorce. It makes the house to be in a very bad atmosphere. Her parents start to fight more frequently and sometimes she becomes the victim of it. Her father once hit her."

"That's pretty cruel."

"That's why I tried my best to cheer her up. It hurts for me to see other suffer. Our life is short, so it's just not right for it to be filled with pain and sadness." He said, face looking up to the sky. He put his hands inside his pants pockets. The sun beginning to set, the sky was now red-coloured." I don't want _anybody _to have the same fate as mine." Minato muttered to himself in a voice that is almost impossible to be heard.

"What did you just say Minato-kun?"

"No, nothing, and about the drink, I can buy it for you. Apparently it is only sold at my dorm's vending machine.. Don't forget to pay the money back though."

"Okay, Thanks."

"By the way, talking about home, where do you live Shia-chan? "

"Umm… Why do you ask?"

"..So I can walk you home of course. It's starting to get late. I think we should call it a day."

"Oh.."

"..Yes, so where is it? " He asked once again.

"Apparently, I haven't gone to my dorm since I arrived here." She laughed in embarrassment before she continued," But from what I read, the name of the dorm is Iwatodai dorm. I'm not sure where it was located though."

"….what a coincidence…" He said plainly, though his mouth was curving a smile.

"Why?"

"I also live there. C'mon, let's go home." He then started to walk back," Don't worry, it's just a few minute walk from here."

* * *

**Author's note: **I think I'll stop here for a while. I actually already have the big picture of what I am going to write. However, the puzzle is not completely finished. Some fragments are still missing. I'll need to think over the whole chapter again, making sure it is well planned. Probably I might as well re-write the whole three chapters.

I have problems with the characterization and dialogue. I'm trying to make Minato as a person who tend to get lost in his own thought and talk really rare and made Shia a cheerful and caring character. However, I think I failed to do so. Minato's character appears to change when Maiko come because I keep on wondering; how can Minato, with his quiet and introvert personality is able to befriend many people? Then, it comes to my mind that since he is able to change persona, maybe he is also able to change his personality. He is like a person with many masks. So, I hope this is acceptable.


	4. beginning of an ordeal

"_She gave the first impression that you gave to me 4 months ago when we first met." – Akihiko Sanada_

**Chapter 4 – The beginning of an ordeal**

"_*pant*…..*pant*"_

Her breath was heavy from running over a long period of time. The sound of her steps and her breath echoed in the unknown silent place.

Surrounding her was a very unearthly and terrifying view; Coffins could almost be found in every corner. Some gathered in a group and some also stood alone. Blood covered the floor and the wall that she passed. Even the water that used to sprinkle out of the fountain was replaced by the red coloured liquid, adding the creepiness to the atmosphere. Beneath her, a large crescent moon was radiating its eerie bright green light, providing her enough visibility to venture through this place.

It is scary, indeed. However, she had no time to dwell in fear. No time to be afraid. She had to run.

"_Why do you run away?"_

A distant voice spoke from behind, sending a chill to her spine even though it was still far away, followed by a faint sound of stepping, which grew louder from time to time. Something was chasing her. She knew her life was in danger.

She turned her head to see a colossal silhouette. She could not tell much about the figure, the light from the moon was not bright enough to reveal it.

"_It's futile, you cannot escape from your inevitable fate.."_

The monster spoke once again. It was louder compared to the previous one and in the same time, more terrifying. It moved very fast, despite of its gargantuan body. Each step that it took enclosed the gap between the two of them.

Shia tried to increase her phase, but it was no use. She just could not outrun that creature. Before she knew it, the dark shadow figure had loomed over her. The short distance enabled her to see the monster's shape clearly; its whole body was covered with fur. Two gigantic horns were pointing out of its head. Both of its small hands were shackled and Its face was covered with a mask labelled 'XII".

"_It will always follow you. Time, will eventually bring you back to the destined path._"

The giant lifted up its handsand formed a fist, ready to whack her flat to the ground.

"_To the ultimate end, DEATH.." _

And with that, the monster smashed its hand to the ground

**SLAM!**

**

* * *

**

**7/9 – After school – 2F homeroom**

"Shia-ta~!" Junpei shouted to wake her up. However, Shia's sudden exclamation flinched him.

"No!" Shia yelled as she suddenly woke up from her slumber. Her hands flailed vigorously in respond to the last thing she remembered in her head: the falling monster hand.

**SLAP!**

Before she realized where she was and what she was doing, she landed a critical hit on Junpei.

* * *

"Ow! Ow!" Junpei screamed painfully. A red hand-mark was visible on his right cheek from Shia's sudden hand movement. The voice produced from the slap was so loud and probably could be heard from all over the school. Even Minato, who was at that time had his headphone on and the volume was at maximum, could hear the sound. He chose to ignore it though.

"I'm really sorry Junpei-kun!" Shia bowed apologetically to her blue-capped friend who was currently trying to ease the pain with his hand. "Are you alright? Do I break any of your bone?"

"Don't worry about him, Shia-chan. He deserves it." Yukari said in a cold tone as she approached Shia from her desk after hearing the slapping sound. "Seriously, can you stop disturbing others, Stupei?"

"Ouch! Don't be so mean Yuka-tan! School has ended! I'm just trying to wake her up!" Junpei protested. His sentence somehow struck the new transfer student as her eyes grew wide in shock.

"What? School was over?" She blurted out before Yukari had a chance to reply Junpei's remark. After taking a quick look at the clock and her surroundings, it was true that the school was already over. "Why didn't I notice? I thought this is still lunch break!"

"_Lunch Break?" _Yukari and Junpei were dumbfounded by their new friend's realisation. Did she sleep throughout the whole afternoon period which has a total of 2 hours lesson? They could not tell since Mrs Toriumi asked her to sit beside Minato (and made some of the boys in the class cried in disagreement and jealousy towards Minato. Why can't she be placed beside them instead? This world is so unfair), while both of them sat in the front row. They wished they could ask her, but they were too shocked at the moment to do it.

Shia, realizing that her two friends would not be able available for the time being, turned to the drowsy blue-haired teenager, who still sat beside her and ignored the three of them, to ask for a confirmation. He was listening to his mp3 player. Sound was blaring out of his headphone which was attached on his ears. She was amazed that Minato had not had any hearing problems. Wait, was he there all the time? If so, why he did not wake her up when the class started?

"Minato-kun, why don't you wake me up just now?" She asked him, but only received his humming as a respond. Shia tried again, this time, she talked louder and shook his shoulder. She succeeded.

"..Yes?" Minato asked her plainly as he took off his headphone from his ears and let it hung on his shoulder, utterly oblivious of what was happening.

"I'm asking you just now, why don't you wake me up during the whole afternoon periods?" She raised her voice a little bit, annoyed with Minato's attitude.

"….Well, you look so tired and the teacher did not seem to mind you. So I think nothing's wrong with that right? "He said nonchalantly, looking to the view outside the window as he recalled what he had seen throughout the whole afternoon class; how the teacher just continued on with his lecture despite of the obvious sight that his bench mate was sleeping and also how cute her face was when she did that. He blushed upon remembering it, but managed to hide it from her. "Just try not to do that again. Final is next week. I'm sure you don't want to get a low score for that."

"I know." Shia sighed "I just cannot help it, Okay?"

"Huh? What do you mean Shia-chan?" Asked Yukari who finally managed to recover from the earlier shock.

"Well, I cannot sleep well last night."

" Why? Is the dorm bed uncomfortable for you?"

Shia shook her head, disagreeing." No, the bed is fine. I fell asleep as soon as I hit the pillow. The problem was after that." She paused and her body shivered upon remembering what she experienced last night, this afternoon, as well as the other nights before." I have a nightmare.. Again"

"Nightmare….Again?" Yukari, Minato and Junpei blinked and repeated what she said simultaneously in confusion.

"Yes.. I don't really remember when I started to have it. Usually, it only happened once or twice a week. However, recently the dream starts to appear more often. And the dream is always the same one." Her face became dark and a bit frustrated.

"When do you usually have it?" Minato asked her. He turned his music off so he could hear her better. Her nightmare somehow piqued him, Junpei and Yukari.

Shia tried to remember. "I am not sure, but every time I woke up, the moon was always either full or nearly full."

"_Full moon? _"It reminded Minato of something, but he did not want to conclude it yet." Then, what are you dreaming of?"

"Er.. Everything happened so fast. I cannot remember the detail, but the place is always full of coffin and blood. There is a moon, it is very big and the colour is green instead of yellow. Oh yes, and there is also a bull-like monster with a mask that is chasing me and is trying to kill me..."

Her three friends' face changed upon hearing that. They seemed to be surprised.

"Dude!But That is.." Junpei blurted out which surprised both Minato and Yukari as he could spill everything about the dark hour and what not. Luckily the capped-teen flinched as soon as he saw the face which Minato put on when Pharos played with his cellphone.

"No Junpei. It's too early to come to a conclusion. ." Minato tried to calm Junpei down.

"It seems you guys know something." Shia said who become curious after seeing Junpei's and Minato's reaction.

"Yes we do, but I'm afraid we cannot tell you yet shia-chan, at least for the time being. As soon as we clear all our doubts, we'll tell you right away." Yukari said to Shia. She felt a little bit guilty of having to hide things from her." sorry.."

"No, it's Alright." She smiled. " It's only a dream after all, it won't affect me much."

" _while making you unable to have a good rest and distracting your daily life? You bet.." _Minato thought to himself at her point." Tell us if you have it again, alright?"

"I will." She responded, smile coming back to her face. Sharing her trouble seemed to made her feel better. " Hey, do you guys have anything to do now? If not, want to hang out together? Minato and I are going to Paulownia Mall today!"

"I promised to show her around but I haven't brought her there due to time constrain.." Minato added.

"..Man, sorry, I've promised to treat Kenji at Wakatsu today" Junpei replied apologetically." You should've told me earlier, I would love to come! But breaking a promise is not what a man should do."

" I've also promised with my archery buddy to study together today. Sorry Shia-chan, maybe next time." Yukari also replied.

"Oh, okay," Shia said, a bit disappointed. "Then, it will only be the both of us again, today."

**After School- near School gate**

After they parted with Junpei and Yukari, Minato and Shia walked out of the school together. Along the way, Shia felt dozen pairs of eyes were glaring straight at her sharply, which at first made her feel uncomfortable. She decided to shrug it off though. They did that probably because her face was still unfamiliar to them. As they exit the school building, they saw a group of girls was surrounding someone; A male teenager with a silver hair, grey eyes and well-built body. He was wearing a red vest and black gloves. His face showed that he didn't like the girls' presence.

"Hey, is that.." Shia began, trying to remember the name of the guy.

"Akihiko Sanada. Our senpai, fellow dorm mate, and the school boxing-champ. You met him yesterday." Said Minato

"Whoa.. I don't know he is so popular." Shia remarked amazedly.

"Well, he is smart, handsome, cool and masculine. I believe it's very rare to come across a guy like him."

"Umm..he looks frustrated, shouldn't he be happy to be surrounded by girls like that?"

Minato stayed silent. He knew how stressful it is to be surrounded by ton of girls that you don't know who want to be close to him. He had experienced it twice before. Luckily his ability to ignore his surroundings and his deathly glare manage to stir them away. However, he knew that those girls were still lurking in the school, increasing their ranks and waiting for their chances to come.

"…Let's help him.." He finally said before he approached the boxing champ. Shia followed him behind.

"Greetings, Akihiko Senpai." His voice attracted Akihiko's attention and also some of the girls' whose face became red as soon as their eyes saw Minato. They cried hysterically. It made Shia surprised to know that the blue-haired guy was also quiet popular.

"Hey, Arisato. Are you guys going somewhere?" Akihiko seemed to be relieved to see Minato. He knew Minato, unlike Junpei, was not going to tease him of his popularity and instead helped him out of this mess.

"..Shia-chan and I are going to Paulownia Mall, want to tag along senpai?" Minato said to him. Hearing a girl's name being mentioned by the S.E.E.S. leader made some of the girl squealed hysterically

"Why must you go with her, Minato-kun?" Said one of the girls.

"I heard you're dating her senpai, is it true?" Asked another one of them.

"Just go with me instead Minato-kun! I promise you'll have more fun than that new transfer student!"

"_Oh brother, must they act like that all the time?" _Minato only sighed at those girls, who kept on talking to him like crazy, and ignored all of those comments.

"_Nice, Arisato." _Akihiko thought happily, a little smirk could be seen from his face." Why not? I can use a little break right now. Studying and training really drain my energy." Akihiko then moved his attention to the red-haired girl who was standing behind Minato. Realising that his two orbs were focusing on he, Shia bowed to greet him.

" Hey Hamuko, how's your first day here?" Akihiko said with a smile he rarely put on, which really shocked the girls and in the same time, amazed them. He never put on that expression to them.

"It's quite fun senpai. Even though I realized I need a lot of catching up to do for the final exam." She tried to reply him with a cheerful smile. However, the girls behind Akihiko stared at her sharply, full of hatred and disgust, which made her smile turned into an awkward expression.

"Well, that's good," Akihiko commented on her reply," If you need help with your study, feel free to ask me or Mitsuru for help. I believe Arisato and the others would also agree to help you out. I'm not sure about Iori though."

"… Sorry to interrupt, but can we continue the chat while walking? " Minato interrupt them, he could not stand the fan girls' presences and pressures any longer.

"Oh, sorry, let's go then,"Akihiko apologized then started to walk to the front gate, Shia followed him from behind and after she managed to catch up with him, they started to talk again, mostly about sports and school club. Minato put on his headphone and just about to walk and turn on the music when he suddenly heard the girls who were still standing behind him talking among themselves.

" *sigh*… Why must the two of them be so cold towards us."

"But again, that's what makes them looks cool."

"Who is that girl anyway? How dare she steal our Minato and Akihiko from us !"

"Yeah, we need to teach her a lesson!"

"Shh! Don't be so loud, Minato-kun can hear us!"

Minato sighed as the girls continued to talk out of jealousy. He turned on his mp3 player and finally walked out of the school with one bothering thought in his mind.

**Evening – In front of Dormitory**

"That was a lot of fun! Thank you for today Sanada Senpai, Minato-kun!" Shia shouted happily as they arrived at the front door of the dorm. They spent the entire day at Paulownia Mall, playing arcade games where Akihiko punched the boxing machine until it broke, browsing through music album at Power Record where Minato and Shia each bought 3 albums for their mp3 player, and relaxing at chagal café.

Akihiko replied to her," Your welcome."

Minato on the other hand did not hear her words and still lost at his own thought. Shia was too happy to notice the fact that he did not reply and enter the dorm. Inside, she was greeted by Fuuka and Yukari. They were studying together at the lounge.

" You seemed to be really lost today. Did something happen?" Akihiko began to talk to Minato as soon as the dorm's door is closed.

"I thought I do this a lot," Was his only respond.

"Not for the last few weeks. So?"

"I'm okay." He said as he scratched his head." I just had a bad feeling that something is going to happen."

"Again?" Akihiko sighed," Well I hope your premonition this time is wrong. Do you still remember the last time you have it?"

"Yes, I remember. I had it after we defeated the 'hierophant' arcana"

"And do you remember what happened after that?"

"…." Minato tried to recall his memories again. Right after they defeated the 'hierophant' shadows, he suddenly had a hunch that something bad is going to happen. However, he and the rest of the party members shrugged it off and chose to ignore it as they thought he may be too paranoid at that time. However, to their surprise, his premonition is true. The S.E.E.S fell to the enemy trap and made them had a very 'wonderful 'experience.

" Yes, I do" He finally said after he finished recollecting the memories of the past.

"I'll let Mitsuru and the others know so we can be prepared if anything happened." Akihiko remarked." Nothing's wrong with anticipating, right?"

"no, I think it is a wise decision." Minato agreed with his senpai's decision. "By the way Akihiko-Senpai, may I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"You seemed to be really close to Shia-chan despite of the fact you only met her yesterday. Have you known her before?"

"To tell you the truth, I only knew her yesterday, but…" Akihiko paused for a while. he looked a bit confused too." I'm not sure how to put it, but talking to her gave me the same feeling like the one I had when talking to you right now. It feels like I could say anything to her, I didn't have to hide anything."

"what?" Akihiko's answer seemed to surprise the blue-haired teenager.

"Yeah, weird isn't it? But that's how it is. Maybe it's also because she reminded me of Miki somehow. She was so cheerful and energetic."

"….." Minato once again stayed silent as he stared at his sadden senpai who was remembering his past memories about him and Miki. Sometimes, Minato just did not know what to do or what to say in this kind of situation, so he decided to remain quite.

"I'm getting hungry, let's go inside." Akihiko finally said after some moment of silent.

* * *

Minato spent the rest of the night revising for the final exam at his own room. He felt studying with the other would not help him much as there was too much distraction; After some time, Yukari and Fuuka will surely start gossiping which is difficult to be stopped. Junpei will definitely be lost throughout the whole study time. If not, then he will tell jokes which were as lame as Ikutsuki's. So, studying alone is the best option available. He studied until dark hour come. This was actually one of the advantages of being able to function during the dark hour that you'll have an extra hour to finish your staff.

"Hello, what are you doing there?" A voice that Minato was really familiar with suddenly called out from behind.

"…Studying.." He answered him plainly, eyes still focusing on to the maths textbook.

Pharos seemed to be uninterested with the teen's answer as he asked him another question." So, are you having fun the other day? Do you manage to meet my other half?"

"**A lot" **He said sarcastically, though some parts of it was true," Thanks to you." Minato didn't seem to hear Pharos' final question. He was too angry at him right now.

"I glad you like my surprise." He smiled and chuckled." And don't worry, this is only the beginning.** More is yet to come, and it will be much more fun!"**

"What?" Minato turned back by Pharos' final sentence. However, he was no longer there, nowhere to be found. Pharos appearance had caused him to lose his focus. So he decided to call it a day and go back to sleep. After he changed to his sleeping attire, he hit the pillow and slept. Slowly, his mind started to drift away from the reality. However, instead of dreamland, his consciousness was lead to another place that he was very familiar with: the velvet room.

.

.

* * *

**unknown - the velvet room**

"Welcome again, my dear guest." Igor greeted Minato, as soon as he regained his consciousness.

"Hello Igor, it's been a while." Minato replied to him, Face a little bit annoyed as he wanted to go back to sleep as fast as possible.

Elizabeth smirked as she took a good look at the teenager's drowsy face ,"I'm sorry Minato, but my master said he wanted to talk about something important."

"Okay, be sure to make it quick."

"Very well, but before I begin, do you notice something unusual about this room? " Igor began his talk.

"_Oh, man" _Minato grumbled in his thought as he began to examine the elevator-shaped room," Okay, why does the room and the giant clock stop moving?" True enough, the normally noisy room was unusually quiet. Everything was stationary.

"Precisely, this unusual occurrence must have meant something." Igor chuckled before he continued," It seems your journey is going to experience a big change. A very big one."

* * *

**Author's note: **Thanks for those who are still following my story. Finally, some plot update. I hope this one is better than before. More is to come after I finished my exam. By the way. I wondered whether I managed to keep all of the person's character intact. I mean, does some character in the story seemed to be a bit off? I need comment on that! Thank you

PROMISE: AFTER I FINISH MY EXAM, I'LL EDIT AND CORRECT ANY MISTAKES THAT I DID DURING WRITING THE WHOLE FOUR CHAPTERS!


	5. Memories

C**hapter 5 – Memories **

Igor's sentence really struck the sleepy boy, making him totally awake. Surprised, he asked Igor for a confirmation while trying to maintain his composure, "Is it a good or a bad one, Igor?"

"Well, we don't know for sure my boy." Igor replied him casually, followed by his signature chuckle.

"_Knew it,"_ Minato thought to himself. Leave it to Igor to make things complicated. "Am I supposed to find out the answer by myself?"

"I'm afraid so my dear guest. Do you still remember whatI have told you about this room?"

Minato gave a nod without even bother to think about it. Igor will, for sure, explain to him about it all over again despite of his answer.

He was right. After a while, Igor began to speak, "This room changes with every guest who come in and receives our service. It represents their inner self and the journey they are going through. As their journey end, the room too will stop moving as it reaches its destination. "

"So, this moving elevator represents the journey that you are having right now, and like other previous room, will keep on moving in one direction." Elizabeth added in, helping her master with his explanation.

"Thank you Elizabeth. However, now, it stops even when your journey is still on its way. Such occurrence like this rarely takes place. This mean something will come and change your journey, as well as yourself. What are the possibilities? Think about it my boy." Igor ended his explanation with a grin on his face.

Minato thought about it for a while. He come up with some answers, but decided to keep it to himself. Igor didn't want any answer anyway. He then stared back to the old man who was patiently waiting for him.

That's when he noticed something else: Igor was holding onto something. It was vague, but it was definitely rectangle. What's that? A book? A Contract? Before Minato could find the answer, Igor spoke to him again," I should not hold you here any longer. I am afraid I might disturb your rest."

"_You have, Igor" _The blunette murmured quietly.

"Until then, farewell." Minato's vision grew hazy again. Slowly, the velvet room's light grew dimmer until it finally covered completely in darkness.

Minato found himself looking at two women talking to each other. Both of them brought a child with them, one was boy and the other was a girl. Weirdly, other than the little boy who had the same shade of hair colour as his, their face was not clear.

"_My! What a cute little girl!"_ The woman with the boy shouted excitedly as she looked at the girl who was carrying a white rabbit doll._" Minato, don't you want to introduce yourself to her?"_

"…" The boy whom the woman called Minato seemed to ignore his mother words as he continued to gaze towards the girl as if she was the most interesting thing in the world. She seemed to be tired or sad, he could not tell for sure. However, as the girl noticed the little boy was looking at her, she quickly gave him a smile. Little Minato's face soon turned red and he hid behind her mother out of embarrassment.

"_Oh, C'mon Minato, don't be shy._" The woman dragged little Minato from behind her and held him with both of her hands to prevent him from running away," _Say 'Hi' to her and introduce yourself. _"

Minato pouted a bit at the woman before reluctantly wave his hand before he said with an anxious smile ,"_Hi, my name is Minato Arisato, what's your name?_"

The girl with a rabbit doll smiled back and began to open her mouth to speak, before something distracted his attention.

**7/11**

**Early Morning – Minato's room**

_RRiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing~!_

The ringing alarm clock on his desk woke him up. With a groan, Minato drag himself from bed and stop the clock with a powerful slam. He examined it. The time now was 7.30 AM. He had to prepare to go to school.

"_Just, what's that dream?"_

Minato thought to himself as he began to change to his uniform and washed his face,

" _Is it…. Part of my childhood memories? Why does it suddenly appear? And, that girl .Who is she? Never mind, probably its nothing important."_

After finished washing his face, he looked to the mirror and began to brush his teeth. His mind segued to another topic. He recalled his last conversation with Igor, about the stopping velvet room and the change.

" _Change, huh? Wonder what Igor means by that. I thought everything has already been set." _

Minato put back his toothbrush and looked at his reflection again. His eyes were focused towards the other pair of grey orb who stared at him back; a pair of eyes which never fail to hide his emotion and his thought.

" _I thought, my end has been decided._"

Just when Minato got out of his room and shut the door, another sound of door being shut was heard. Minato turned around and saw Akihiko had just come out.

"Morning, senpai." He greeted him

"Oh, Hi Arisato." Somehow, Akihiko looked tired. Black circle was visible around his eyes. He seemed to stay up all night. His right hand carried his bag whereas his left hand held a can of coffee.

"Senpai, are you.."

"Monitoring her? Yeah, yesterday night was my shift." Both teen started to walk down the hall as they talked.

" _I was just about to ask whether he studied throughout the whole night, actually. " _Minato thought to himself."How's she?"

"She appeared to be stable until now. Just like you, she did not transmogrified when dark hour appear and did not seem to get any side effect from experiencing it, unlike Takeba and Iori."

"I see," Minato answered simple-mindedly as he recalled his first time coming here.

"It's still unsure whether she really had the potential or not. But, looking that she showed the same signs as yours, high chances she can summon her persona. "

"Well, that's good news for us, especially for Junpei." Minato let out a small smile, thinking on how his best friend would react. He believed Junpei would be as excited as when he heard that Fuuka was going to join the team.

"Heck ,Yeah! Of course it is!" the excited sound of Junpei suddenly could be heard from behind. Minato and Akihiko stopped their steps in front of the stairs and turned back to see the currently-energetic-capped teen. His face was brighter than ever." It's always nice to have girl to join our rank! Especially her! She's super cute, man!"

"I agree that having more man power provides more convenience in exploring tartarus, we can progress much faster." Akihiko commented to Junpei's statement." But I don't understand you, Iori. It makes no difference whether the new member is girl or boy, right?"

"It does make a huge difference!" Junpei protested as they passed the lounge." Oh,C'mon Akihiko- Senpai! Can't you be more interested in woman?"

"Why? Is it necessary?"

"Well, Duh! Man loves woman! And Man needs Woman to survive senpai! It's just that simple!"

Akihiko stared at Junpei in confusion and Minato face-palmed at his best buddy's words.

"What! Why do you guys look at me like that?"

Minato, Akihiko and Junpei finally went to school together. Along the way, Junpei kept trying to convince his senpai that having a girlfriend is very important. However Akihiko kept on refusing every tiny bit of his reasoning.

Once in a while, Akihiko would go to Minato to ask him to stop Junpei from talking and Junpei would ask Minato whether he agreed with his statement or not. Even though some of his reason was indeed very weird, Minato just nodded in agreement and put an apologetic smile to Akihiko. He was glad that finally Junpei was back to his old self and he did not want to ruin his good mood.

Before they realized it, they had arrived at the school gate. Akihiko parted from them morning training. Junpei and Minato walked together to class. Just when they're about to enter their class, they heard two girls were gossiping.

"Hey, have you heard that there's a new transfer student at class 2-F?" Said one of the girl with a bun.

"Yeah, what about her?" asked another girl.

"Rumor said that she was chasing Minato. She even asked her homeroom teacher to let her sit next to him."

"Wow, really!."

"Not only that! Some say, she is also interested with Akihiko-Senpai, the most popular guy in school. According to eye-witnesses, yesterday she boldly told the other girls who were talking with Akihiko – senpai to stay away from him! "

"Ew! What kind of girl is she?"

"She sure know how to create trouble, but don't worry, we are going to do something to her tomorrow."

It seemed matter becoming more serious. The bad premonition that Minato had yesterday came back. This time, it was worse than yesterday

"Man, talk about rumours."Junpei commented on what they've just heard." I hope they will stop doing this. You never know how powerful a gossip can be, especially with all the weird and crazy things going on now. We have to put an end to this as soon as possible."

Minato nodded in agreement before the idea of teasing Junpei come to his mind," I thought you are going to believe in that story Junpei"

"Nah! I've spent enough time already with Shia-tan to know what kind of girl she is. I know she won't do stupid things like that." Junpei immediately denied Minato's statement." Besides, why should I bother listening to it when I know the real truth?"

"What do you mean?"

"Heh, don't underestimate the power of Junpei, The ace Detective, Minato! I know you are actually the one who is chasing her, right?" His words caused Minato to flinch. Junpei grinned victoriously as he looked at his friend's expression. His smile was full of satisfaction. "Gotcha!"

It took some seconds before Minato managed to calm down again."I may be interested in her Junpei, but that doesn't mean I'm chasing after her or I love her. There's a difference between interested and in loved." He sighed.

"Both sound the same to me." Junpei laughed as he entered the classroom with Minato following him from behind.

"_Next time, I won't do that again" _Minato thought to himself as the bell began to ring.

**After School - classroom**

Minato was glad that the school was finally over. The bad feeling that he had this morning was bugging him and preventing him from focusing to what the teacher's lecture. Furthermore, Shia was acting rather strange today. She was unusually quiet and though she did not fall asleep again during class, she zoned out quiet often that she got scolded by the teacher a few times.

He wished he could just ignore them, but he could not. He was not the type of person that liked to deal with problems, but he could not stand looking at his friends in trouble or thinking that something bad might happen to them.

"Umm.. Minato-kun.." Shia's voice suddenly snapped him out of his thought.

"What is it?" Minato asked her.

"W..well," She seemed hesitant for some reason, as if talking to him made her feel uncomfortable. "Do you know where the tennis court in this school is?"

"Why do you need to go there?" Minato asked her back

"I want to talk to the tennis team's captain."

"So, you want to join the tennis team, is it?"

"Actually, I was able to join this school because of tennis." She laughed a little at her own statement." So I want to tell the captain that I have arrived."

"_No wonder she has such a strong grip" _Minato thought to himself," I know where the court is, but I don't think you can find the person you are looking for there, even though according to the schedule today's is their scheduled practice day."

"Eh? Why?" Shia looked confused.

"Well, now is one week before exam, usually all club activity is temporarily suspended," explained Minato.

"I see." She looked disappointed upon hearing that.

"Hey, don't feel down like that. I can help you to look out for the captain. Do you know his or her name?" Asked Minato.

"Err… Unfortunately, no," Answered Shia.

"Oh, well." Minato sighed." In that case, I guess we have to ask someone."

"Are you talking about Rio? If yes then she is currently in the tennis court." Kenji, one of their classmates, suddenly approached the two of them.

"You know the tennis team's captain Kenji?" Minato asked him.

"Yeah, Rio Iwasaki. She's junior just like us. She is my friend since primary school. We are quite close." Kenji explained to them.

"I can see from the way you addressed her." Minato responded to his statement.

"Sharp as usual, Minato." Kenji complimented him before he rolled his eyes to Shia. " I've just texted her to ask where she was right now and she said she is currently at the tennis court. By the way, what business do you have with her Shia-chan?"

"Um.. I want to tell her that I want to join the tennis team."

"Well, then let's go together, I also want to ask her something." Kenji said to her.

"Ooh, and what is that Kenji-kun?" Shia asked excitedly. Thinking that Kenji wanted to confess his love or something

"Hey, don't get the wrong idea. I just want to ask her about homework." Kenji quickly responded.

Shia's excitement immediately faded off." Bummer…"

"Sorry, but I'm only interested in older woman." Kenji told her, trying to make things clear. " So, ready to go?"

"You want me to accompany you, Shia-chan?" Minato asked her

"N..No! I'll be fine by myself. Kenji is also accompanying me." Shia abruptly rejected his offer. She appeared quite uncomfortable with his presence. Her face, though, showed that she did not feel okay to reject it.

"Yup! Don't worry Minato-kun. Leave it to your best-bud" Kenji gave him a thumb-up.

Minato sighed." Alright, but be careful."

"Don't worry about me. I am not a baby, okay?" Shia answered him

.After that, they went off, leaving Minato behind. Suddenly a voice whispered in his mind, ' _no need to be worried, she will be fine.'_

" _Are you sure Pharos? It doesn't sound convincing, coming from you." _Minato responded to him as he started to pack his books and stationary.

"_Don't worry, until now, everything is still going well."_ Pharos said with his playful tone. His sentence was very vague.

"_What do you mean by going well? Don't give me another puzzle to be solved. I'm sick of it." _

However, there was no answer.

" Damn it." He cursed to himself as he decided to go to Library to study, hoping the atmosphere at the room will help him to concentrate to study and to think clearly.

**After School – Library**

However, it turned out to be useless. Even the silent and serious atmosphere in the library could not help him to concentrate on his study. He had lost one day of school. He could not afford to lose another hour of study. He could not let his grade drop. But the thoughts just did not stop coming to his mind: The false rumour, the news from velvet room, and also about the bad premonition.

There are just too much information for him to process. He could not thing clearly. Stressed, The teen put his head on the table and messed his hair with both of his hands.

"Hey," A tap on his shoulder suddenly stopped his train of thought. He lifted his head, turned back and saw the silverrete-haired senpai. One of his hand gripped Minato's shoulder and the other was carrying maths book.

"Akihiko senpai?" Minato looked quite surprised to find his senpai in the school library. He is not the type of person that likes to go to places like this.

"It's kinda weird that we bump to each other quite often," Akihiko let out a small smile for a moment as he sat down next to him. However, his expression turned serious again as he stared back at him. " You look pretty stressed. Wanna loosen things out a little bit?"

**After School – School Hallway**

"So, does the rumour about you chasing Sanada-san and Minato is true, Shia-chan?" Kenji asked Shia as they were on their way to the tennis court.

"Ha? No! Of course not!" She answered loudly."Geez, why does everybody think I am doing that? "

"Well, there is a rumour going on about you and I kinda have that assumption from the way you act around him just now." Kenji said." You look nervous when talking to him."

"About that," Shia looked away from Kenji out to the window." I want to proof that what people have heard is wrong. That's why I try not to stay close to Minato-kun for a while. I don't want to him to also get involved in my problem."

"But, with that kind of attitude, don't you think it will only make more people believe in the rumour?" Kenji asked her." I mean, just now, you are very nervous when you are with him and you feel sorry for leaving him behind."

"You're probably right Kenji-kun." She answered with a small giggle.

" Then You better don't do that again Shia-chan. " Kenji said with an angry tone." Don't you know that Minato is really worried about you?"

"He's worried about me? How do you know ?" Shia was quite surprised on what she's just heard.

"I sorta kinda tell." Kenji shrugged." Hey, Shia-chan, mind if I ask you something?"

"What is it Kenji-kun?"

"Despite of the rumor, I notice that you and Minato is quite close. Yesterday was the first time you met him, right?"

"About that? Hmm…" Shia closed her eyes, thinking of the reason why." I'm not so sure, but somehow I have this feeling of familiarity whenever I am around him."

**Evening – Iwatodai Boxing club**

"So.. Feeling any better?" Akihiko asked Minato while trying to catch up his breath. "For me Sport is one way to relieve stress. I don't know about you though."

He brought Minato to his usual training place outside of school and they ended up sparing until quite late. Nobody either lose or won, both of them were equal competitors. A lot of other guests saw their match in amazement and awe.

Akihiko was not surprised with Minato's skill. He had seen him using gloves and knuckles when dealing with shadows in the tartarus and he was quite good, probably better than some of the boxing club member in the school. Akihiko often asked him to become his sparring opponent when he was bored as he knew Minato was a powerful contender and would provide him a challenge.

" A bit," Minato said as he wiped some of the sweat from his face. He looked exhausted as well.

"Damn, this is the first time I am unable to win from you. You've gotten better." Akihiko smiled.

" I realize you'll need a formidable foe to keep you entertain, so I secretly trained to hone my skill. It will also come in handy to battle shadow when I did not have any weapon with me." Minato responded with a slight smile.

"Well, thanks. You sure know how to please your senpai. Thinking of joining the club? I am pretty sure you can be captain next year."

"Sorry Akihiko- senpai, but I am afraid I must turn down the offer. My hands are already full with student council, Kendo club, and art club." Minato responded to his offer with an apologetic tone.

"Heh, You're one amazing guy, you know that?"

"Thanks…".

" So, how can I help you?" Akihiko suddenly asked him.

"Pardon me ?" Minato was quite surprised with Akihiko sudden question.

" You heard me. You look troubled when you were at library and you still look troubled until now. As a senior, I feel that it's my responsibility to help my juniors."

"Alright," Minato sighed at his senpai request." I could not focus today. The feeling that something bad is going to happen is becoming more and more intense."

"What makes you feel like that? Something must have happened, right" Akihiko asked.

"Well-" Before Minato could continue with his sentence, his phone suddenly rang. Minato picked his phone and noticed that it was from Kenji. " Hello, Kenji, what is it?"

"Minato! Sorry, but I think we are in trouble! " Kenji said in panic, "When Shia and I were walking towards the tennis court, somebody suddenly hit both of us from behind. I fell unconscious afterwards. When I woke up, Shia is not there anymore. I've tried to search the entire school but still could not find her! Hello? Minato, Hello? Minato! Are you there! Answer me~!"

"_I've told you, right? Everything will be all right. Everything goes according to my prediction. Soon, Minato, soon…. The fun, will start."_

_**Author's note**__: I've started on this chapter one year ago, but I decided not to continue it. It is mainly because I started to play other games. So, I apologize to whoever anticipate the arrival of this chapter. Since it's been like one year, I have forgotten many of the plotline that I have prepared. Thus, the ending of this chapter might be messy and uninteresting. I don't know whether I will continue this. I need to replan the whole thing again. I also did not really prove read this thing. SO there might be error everywhere and it might be very messy. _

_P.S. I actually plan this story to have three arc. It is a very big project, but I feel I don't have the writing skill to make this story tidy, full of suspense and interesting. So, I am very sorry if I might discontinue this story. I also need your help to review on the plot as well as my writing. Thank you. _


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